Houston among top cities for corporate expansions

Houston moved up a few notches in Site Selectionmagazine’s annual ranking of corporate facilities and business sites, propelled by growth in the energy and tech sectors.

Houston earned the No. 2 spot in 2010 with a total of 152 projects that were included in the magazine’s Conway New Plant Database. Houston trailed the Chicago area which had 184 projects and was ahead of Dallas-Fort Worth with 127 projects.

The city was No. 5 in 2009 with 123 projects and ranked No. 1 in 2008 with 179 projects.

The rankings are based on the number of projects in the database. To be included, a project must meet one or more of the following criteria: have $1 million or more in capital investments in the facility, create 50 or more jobs, or add 20,000 square feet or more of floor space.

“Clearly, the energy sector is driving the economy there,” said Ron Starner, executive vice president with the magazine. “Also, particularly over the last three years, we’ve noticed that Greater Houston has attracted a lot of huge technloogy deals.

The biggest projects in 2010 were:

A $753 million expansion project at Deer Park Refining

A $195 million expansion project at Rohm & Haas in Deer Park

A $150 million expansion of the Dow Chemical plant in Deer Park

A new $100 million NA Industries/Nippon Shokubai adhesives plant in Pasadena.

Among 2010’s tech deals:

Global Geophysical announced a new seismic technology services headquarters in Missouri City representing a capital investment of 416 million and the creation of 100 jobs.

StratITsphere Data Center Solutions announced a $10 million data center and engineering consulting facility in Katy that created 12 jobs.